Press

Musical Contribution, Leduc Representative- 02/13/14
Mark Wierzbicki
leducrep.news@sunmedia.ca
A song written by a Leduc resident is getting airplay across the world as part of a tribute to late, great country icon George Jones.
Tom Charchuk of Leduc, a songwriter and performer in his spare time, recently had a song of his recorded by the Jones Boys Band, George Jones’ former backing band. The song, “Read Your Letter”, was released as part of the Tennessee band’s late 2013 release, “The Legend Survives”, a compilation of songs written both in the style of Jones and in direct tribute to him.
The song was submitted to Nashville’s Plush Records, the label that recorded an album of songs of tribute to Jones. Though Charchuk’s song wasn’t about Jones, the band felt it was certainly in his tradition.
Charchuk, who works at Tractor Logistics in Nisku, has been an avid performer and songwriter for years, experienced a measure of success before. In 2012 a song off his 2010 EP was released under the American bandstand label, which brought him to Nashville for celebration and a song symposium. That exposure got him on the band’s radar.
“They heard my music from a year before on American Bandstand [the label released one of Charchuk’s songs in 2012]... Basically the musicians that were left over (from Jones backing band) were getting songwriters together for a tribute album,” Charchuk explained. The band asked for more of his songs to be sent over, and eventually chose “Read Your Letter” for inclusion.
“I didn’t think anything of it, so I just sent the songs in, I thought it was an honour,” he said. After hearing the recorded version for the first time, Charchuk was blown away. “I thought, gee, this is what this song is really supposed to sound like.”
The song has been downloaded to radio stations across the world through airplaydirect.com, an online service that provides digital downloads to commercial stations and tracks their use.
So far, according to Airplay Direct’s records, the song and album have been downloaded to 465 stations on several continents.
The album was released with the hopes of attracting more interest in the band, which is currently without a record deal, though thus far it’s been unsuccessful.
“In order to stay together they needed to have a way to make a living as a band,” said Charlie Ray of Plush Records, which released the album, in an email. “Any of them could and still can get hired by another star. But, very few stars replace their entire band at one time. Having one band member working with star X and others working for stars A, B, and C does not keep them together.”
Regardless of the album’s ultimate fortunes, Charchuk is simply happy to be a part of the legacy of one of country music’s greatest artists.
“What George Jones meant to me as a musician is he was a country music icon,” Charchuk said. “He gave birth to what modern country music is today.”
Jones died in April of 2013 at the age of 81 after a legendary career.
Charchuk is also waiting on word for whether he’ll be booked to perform at Canadian Music Week, a four-day industry conference to be held in Toronto this May. If that works out for him, he may end up one step closer to becoming a professional songwriter.
“It started off as a pastime, but I’m starting to come to the realization that hey, I’ve got something there. I have a key, and it’s just a matter of finding a door to open.”Local Singer gets song on American Bandstand, Leduc Representative- 08/31/12
Leduc Representative

Local Singer gets song on American Bandstand
Stephanie Dubois

leducrep.news@sunmedia.ca

Having a song played under the American Bandstand Records label is an achievement on its own. For Leduc resident Tom Charchuk, who pursues music and songwriting as a passion, it's something that left him surprised.

“I was pretty blown away.”

Charchuk's song, “Why Are You A Storm,” was selected off his 2010 EP titled “Pushing My Life,” and was inspired after a bad breakup, explained the singer.

As a result of the selection, the Leduc resident will be travelling to Nashville from Sept. 14-20 to help celebrate the launch of his song on the revived record label, expand upon his songwriting skills and help promote his songs to industry experts.

A mix between country and alternative, Charchuk's sound is unique. He describes it as “ alternative rock and alternative country.”

“I try to write country as best as I can but this turned out as my own genre. I'm kinda in a classification of its own. It's something that's different.”

Although songwriting is more of a passion to the local writer, Charchuk gets his inspiration mostly from past relationships and from the world around him.

He has travelled the globe to promote his music to fans and to expand upon his songwriting skills, travelling to Europe and parts of Asia to promote his music. Charchuk has also had his songs played on radio stations across the United States and Canada.

His songwriting skills date back to 2003, to when he was bass player of a Top 40 band called Nightshift and earned his ropes as a songwriter.

The songwriter has even received critique from famed music producer Kim Fowley, who managed the hit rock girl band The Runaways. It was through the famous music producer where Charchuk gained some valuable critique on his songwriting skills.

But even though the claimed musician is beginning to get recognized for his hard work, he said it is more about the passion.

"Radio Creds" are votes awarded to artists by radio programmers who have
downloaded their music and have been impressed with the artist's
professionalism and the audience's response to the new music. Creds help
artists advance through the AirPlay Direct community.

Only radio accounts may add a Radio Cred. One week after the track has been downloaded the radio account member will receive an email requesting a Cred for each artist they've downloaded.